Illinois Lawmaker Pushing 2A Tax

Illinois state Sen. Toi Hutchinson is pushing an amendment to a budget measure that would unfairly place the burden of the state’s budget problems on law-abiding gun owners.

Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 9 would impose a 5 percent tax on any membership or access fee for gun clubs, shooting ranges, hunt clubs, training classes and shooting match fees. The amendment also requires any of those facilities or service providers to register with the state and pay an annual fee of $75 just so that they can offer their service or membership with the 5 percent tax added.

As NRA-ILA pointed out in a recent update, by increasing the price of self-defense classes as well as any fee spent on range time and practice, this amendment would make it more expensive for those in the Prairie State to seek self-defense training. Hutchinson effectively sees Illinois residents' right to safety as an opportunity to ease the budget burden on the entirety of the state.

Use Your Power!

NRA members and Second Amendment supporters should immediately contact their state senator and strongly urge them to oppose Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 9. To contact them directly,clicking here.

Quebec Mosque Shooting Shows Fallacy Of “Gun Control”

Canada’s strict gun controls—including complete bans on many firearms, the licensing of owners with requirements for “character references,” and a license renewal process that requires background checks every five years—all failed to prevent Sunday night’s terrorist attack on a Quebec mosque.

As Breitbart points out, Sunday’s attack in Canada was similar to recent attacks in Europe where, despite gun bans and other onerous anti-gun laws, terrorists have still been able to commit heinous crimes with firearms—against populations who were largely disarmed.

In 2015, terrorists shot and killed 12 people in Paris, then opened fire in another attack that killed 130 people in November. Last July, a gunman killed nine innocents in Munich, despite Germany’s strict gun controls. As former Interpol general secretary Ronald Noble said of Kenya’s Westgate Mall massacre—which also occurred in a gun-free zone—“Ask yourself: If that was Denver, Colo., if that was Texas, would those guys have been able to spend hours, days, shooting people randomly?”

Illinois Tavern Owner’s Single Shot Drives Away Another Robber

If you’re a robber-in-training, you might want to avoid the Junction Tavern in DePue, Ill. For the second time in three months, owner Charles Casford has chased away a would-be burglar—this time with a well-placed shot to the leg.

A little after 5 a.m. last Saturday, police investigators say Casford heard a loud sound out of the Tavern bar, from his attached abode. As he entered the establishment, Casford said he saw a very large man rifling through the cash register. As the intruder turned and approached, Casford shot him with a firearm he keeps at home.

The thief, Jackie Popp, was found by sheriff’s deputies on the floor of the tavern with a bullet wound to his upper leg. Not surprisingly, Popp is currently on parole and has a long rap sheet for multiple burglary convictions. As recently as last November, Casford chased away a knife-wielding invader also attempting to rob the business.

PA: Lawmakers To Introduce Legislation Strengthening Pre-Emption Laws

Two Pennsylvania lawmakers plan to introduce measures during the 2017 session that would strengthen Pennsylvania’s firearms pre-emption statute.

Potential legislation proposed by both state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr. and state Rep. Mark Keller would seek to ensure laws regarding firearms and ammunition are consistent across the state. Despite Pennsylvania’s existing pre-emption laws, which have been on the books for more than three decades, nearly 50 local governments have enacted their own, more stringent gun control measures in recent years, creating a patchwork of regulations that can easily turn otherwise law-abiding Pennsylvania gun owners into criminals.

Use Your Power!

Pennsylvania residents should contact their state lawmakers now and urge them to co-sponsor this vital and long overdue legislation! To find your senators and representative,click here.

Putting Students First: 5th California School District To Allow Armed Teachers

North Cow Creek School District in Palo Cedro, Calif., has joined four other districts in the state in allowing teachers to bring concealed guns to school. It’s the second school district in Shasta County—which has the third-highest number of concealed-carry permit holders in the state—to adopt this policy.

Rich Gallardo, who has a child at another Shasta County school, Prairie Elementary, is hoping that his district will also consider allowing teachers to have guns. "They are representing me and my kid, and I’ve got to give them at least an official chance on the record to address this issue," he said. Gallardo has already sent a letter to Pacheco Union School District board members. "It's not just for my kid,” he notes. “It's for the whole district, really."

North Cow Creek will require concealed-carry permit holders to receive written permission each year from the district and to meet several other requirements before carrying on campus.

President Picks Neil Gorsuch For U.S. Supreme Court

President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the opening on the U.S. Supreme Court left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Gorsuch, a justice on the Tenth Circuit, has been a strong supporter of the individual right of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms for self-defense.

“President Trump has made an outstanding choice in nominating Judge Gorsuch for the U.S. Supreme Court,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. “He has an impressive record that demonstrates his support for the Second Amendment. We urge the Senate to swiftly confirm Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, just as it did in confirming him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by a unanimous voice vote.”